08/07/2020

Marcia Barbosa: 'Scientist turned superhero, destroying myths'

“The pandemic has turned scientists into a kind of myth-destroying 'superhero',” said Marcia Barbosa, a researcher at the Physics Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). “People started to disbelieve what we say and what we hear most about science today are myths.” Marcia was one of the participants in the webinar “Science and Mathematics: from crisis to development” , held this Wednesday (8) by IMPA, in celebration of the National Science and Researcher Day, celebrated on the same date.

Moderated by journalist Marcelo Soares, director of Lagom Data , the conversation also included the participation of the deputy director of IMPA, Claudio Landim, and Claudia Sagastizábal, a researcher at the Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Scientific Computing (IMECC) at Unicamp. The researchers discussed the role of science in development, the work of a researcher, and the need for dialogue between the profession and society, highlighted by Covid-19.

In her presentation, Marcia Barbosa highlighted some of the myths that permeate the Brazilian population's imagination when the subject is science. "The first Brazilian myth is that we spend too much on science," said the physicist, pointing out that the country's investment in the sector is equivalent to less than 1% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a percentage far below that of other countries. The researcher also presented the Science Generates Development Project of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences .

“We selected stories of some Brazilian scientists who made discoveries that obviously resulted in development,” he explained. One of the figures portrayed by the initiative is that of agricultural engineer Johanna Döbereiner, known for her work in soybean production in Brazil. “Through her struggle to convince the government that we had to produce soybeans in a different way than the foreigners, we managed to transform Brazil into one of the world's major soybean producers.”

“What to do with your knowledge? This is the question that permeates the beginning of many researchers' careers, and there are several paths that can be taken. Dedicating oneself to solving an unanswered problem and focusing on widely transmitting the acquired knowledge to one's students are some of them,” Landim pointed out.

In addition to the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP), the deputy director of IMPA mentioned other initiatives of the institute that seek to stimulate the teaching of mathematics. “We have been engaged in creating educational materials. The Mathematics Portal makes the subject accessible to young people throughout the country through videos. We have also created literature aimed at basic education based on problem-solving, trying to encourage young people who enjoy mathematics to deepen their knowledge.”

Claudia Sagastizábal spoke about the work at CeMEAI CEPID (Center for Mathematical Sciences Applied to Industry at the University of São Paulo) from the perspective of communication between academia and industry. Funded by FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation), the center brings together professionals from different areas and universities to solve real-world business problems. According to the Unicamp researcher, interdisciplinarity is an essential factor for the success of this partnership.

“I see mathematics as the unifying element between disciplines. It is a universal language. And it does this through the modeling of phenomena,” she commented. Applying mathematics as a unifying element that allows scientists from different areas to interact is what Claudia calls “industrial mathematics for good,” a culture that has been disseminated by CeMEAI. “Unlike theory, models are imperfect. But they provide a lot of information that can be used to build new theories.”

Communication between academia and society is also one of the main objectives of theScience & Mathematics Blog, from the newspaper O Globo , pointed out Landim, who coordinates the space. “In a Brazil of mere opinions, where everyone feels entitled to give their opinion on any subject, the Blog gives these experts a voice to express their opinions in a well-founded way.” According to the researcher, the fact that scientists are not heard in the country is explained not only by the devaluation of their voice in society, but also by the inhibition of researchers from occupying spaces in the media.

Watch the webinar “Science and Mathematics: from crisis to development” :